Thursday, 26 June 2014

Article - The sickening propaganda tools and poisoning our children (Published in Greek in 24h on 22 June 2014)

The sickening propaganda tools and
poisoning our children

I remember being physically sick for many
days after we – a group of 7 year olds - were packed into a hot, unventilated
bus to travel from Kyrenia to Nicosia to visit the ‘Museum of Barbarism.’ It
was supposed to be a fun school trip. It left us scarred and shaken for many
years to come.

This ‘museum,’ which used to be the house
of a Turkish commander, became the scene of the brutal murder of his wife and
three kids on 24 December 1963. Their bodies were found in the bathtub. There
still are many unanswered questions surrounding the circumstances of their
death and their killers. Nevertheless, the house - an invaluable ‘evidence of
Greek Cypriot cruelty’ –has been kept as it was found on that night, a real
crime scene, with blood stains and bits of human flesh. The rest of the rooms
are filled with graphic images of burnt-down, mutilated, decomposed bodies of
the ‘victims of Greek Cypriots.’

Have you ever watched a group of young children
with diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and different mother tongues
interact? It is a beautiful thing to witness. The way they don’t question or
even realise each others’ differences, the way they create their own common
language, they way they accept and accommodate each others’ presence, and most
importantly, the naturality with which they do all this…

Taking this innocence away from the
children and instilling in their little minds that a certain group of humans is
cruel, lesser, worse or secondary to others is one of the biggest offenses that
can be committed against them. And, in our country this crime is systematically
committed at public schools on both sides of the island. Both Turkish Cypriot
and Greek Cypriot children are systematically brainwashed and indoctrinated against
the ‘other’ community. We should be ashamed of this crime. We should be ashamed
for not raising our voices against the daily poisoning of our children against the
children ‘of the other side.’ We should demand that radical changes are made to
the education system and history curricula at public schools on both the north
and the south, and ask for an education system that encourages and provides the
opportunity for our children to meet with, communicate, and interact with as
many children ‘from the other side’ as possible. We should demand this if we
are sincere about giving the best we can to our children and about our desire
for peace.